Oil Stakes Another Claim: $135

Crude oil futures have backed off considerably from their record intraday high above $135 a barrel.
By Chuck Marvin ,

Crude oil futures are moving higher in a volatile trading session at the New York Mercantile Exchange but have backed off considerably from their record intraday high above $135 a barrel.

West Texas crude was last trading up 62 cents at $133.79 a barrel, and Brent crude was gaining $1.06 a barrel.

Reformulated gasoline is adding a cent to $3.40 a gallon, while heating oil is up 8 cents at $3.99 a gallon. Near-term natural gas is off 3 cents at $11.62 per million British thermal units.

Crude's early breakout above $135 a barrel was prompted partly by a story on

The Wall Street Journal's

Web site that reported the International Energy Agency is preparing to lower its projections for global crude oil supplies.

However, U.S. dollar strength in today's session is stymieing crude oil's skyward momentum. The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the value of a basket of currencies, is adding 0.42% to 72.20.

Energy stocks are currently mixed.

BP

(BP) - Get Report

is up 1.6% at $77.29, and

Conoco

(COP) - Get Report

is fractionally lower at $102.83.

Exxon Mobil

(XOM) - Get Report

is 0.3% lower at $93.36 a share.

Among exploration companies,

Apache

(APA) - Get Report

is 0.5% higher at $145.54, and

Chesapeake

(CHK) - Get Report

is down a hair at $55.61.

The

U.S. Oil Fund ETF

(USO) - Get Report

, an exchange-traded fund that tracks WTI futures contracts, is down 0.2% at $108.07.

Loading ...